A significant problem associated with maintenance of a fluid reservoir, e.g., a swimming pool, in a system where water is continuously filtered and recirculated through the reservoir is the maintenance, monitoring, and controlling of a water volume in the swimming pool system. Maintaining an optimum volume of water circulating within the system is important because without a proper water volume in a swimming pool, maintenance equipment will not function as designed. As a consequence, the swimming pool will be prone to receiving unfiltered and dirty swimming pool water, in addition to the obvious damage to the pool equipment.
For example, a swimming pool skimmer is a device designed to draw water in from the swimming pool reservoir's surface with a skimming action in order to collect debris, such as leaves, from the top of the swimming pool reservoir's surface. Debris will then settle into the skimmer's mesh basket, while water is channeled through a pipe located at the bottom of the skimmer to a filter. The filter cleans the water by running it through a screen or other separating means. Thereafter, the water is re-routed back to the swimming pool reservoir with a pump. When the water volume circulating through the pool system is below an optimum amount, the skimmer does not function properly. As will be explained in more detail below, this results in improper function of the system pump that will damage the pump and result in unfiltered water.
Unfortunately, in the prior art, devices deigned to automatically maintain proper water volume either come in a form of 1) a hose attachment designed to be installed at the swimming pool reservoir edge, which presents a possible trip hazard and is unsightly; or 2) as a permanent attachment that requires extensive plumbing modifications and dedicated maintenance and cleaning.
Another common theme of those known water volume maintenance designs is the reliance on mechanical water level sensors that detect a water level within the swimming pool reservoir. This presents a problem for water maintenance systems that are installed away from the swimming pool reservoir edge, because dedicated plumbing is required; otherwise, sensors will not work correctly while the swimming pool pump is running. Additionally, requiring installation of a mechanical water level sensor within in the swimming pool reservoir presents an eyesore in the swimming pool reservoir and occupies space within the swimming pool reservoir that is preferred by many users to be dedicated to swimming pool enjoyment and use.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.